USA Today adds support for Android Wear

USA Today — the No. 3 newspaper in the U.S. — this week pushed an update to its Android application that adds support for Android Wear smartwatches.

You'll be prompted to set up notifications for your smartwatch after updating, and you can choose when to get the twice-daily five-headline burst on your wrist. (I've left it at the default 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. times.) After that, just sit back and let it do its thing.

In addition to the Android Wear support, USAT has also added video playlists to its already excellent app, available now in Google Play.

Finding your way around with Google Maps on Android

Google Maps isn't just for browsing around and looking up restaurants, it's also an incredibly powerful navigation tool.

When you need to get from A to B (to C and D) with reliable step-by-step directions, it's usually a good choice to go with the Google Maps app on your phone. Whether you're driving, walking, biking or riding public transit, Google Maps pulls in a wealth of information to get you there safely and quickly, provided you know the right buttons to tap and settings to check.

Now that we've gone over the basics of Maps, we're ready to get into the navigation side of things. If you're ready to master Google Maps navigation, we're ready to help you do it — read along with us.

Ask AC: Can I use one company's quick charger with another's phone?

If you're one of the few whose shiny new phone has come with a Quick Charge 2.0 power supply in the box (here's a list if you're not sure, and even then some of then come with legacy chargers), you've come to a terrible realization. All of your other power supplies are woefully inadequate in comparison, and it's time to replace a few of your other chargers. This raises a few interesting questions, as you'll quickly notice that both smartphone manufacturers and third party suppliers have tech that claims to work with Quick Charge 2.0.

It turns out this isn't particularly complicated, but understanding the difference between the different Quick Charge 2.0 power supplies out there and how you can use them will likely make shopping for your next charger a little easier.

T-Mobile claims the #3 US carrier spot, passing over Sprint

T-Mobile CEO John Legere stated today that the wireless carrier has overtaken Sprint, in terms of the number of its customers, to become the third biggest wireless carrier in the US. Legere made those claims as part of T-Mobile's quarterly conference call to analysts following the release of its latest financial results.

Blu Vivo Air review

The Blu Vivo Air is something of a paradox. This phone approaches the technical limit of how thin we can make a modern smartphone. It's not the absolute thinnest phone, no, that race is ongoing with successive manufacturers cutting their phones down fractions of a millimeter at a time to claim the latest title. But it is still very thin — thinner than any mainstream flagship device you'll find in your local carrier's store.

The design evolution of cell phones has been a bit of an oddity. In the early years we were obsessed with making these devices smaller — 1996's Motorola StarTAC and 2004's Motorola RAZR V3 were revelatory designs. But since the 2007 arrival of the iPhone we've been trending in the opposite direction: bigger. These phones have gotten slimmer over time, sure, but the flagship devices from Samsung, HTC, LG, and even Apple are all now 5-inch-plus monsters.

But these flagship devices bring with them flagship specifications and flagship prices. The Blu Vivo Air charts an opposite course — it shoots for extreme thinness and surprising affordability. That comes at the expense of the specifications, though. There are engineering tradeoffs to be made in making a device this thin, but more significant might just be the tradeoffs made to get the phone down to this price. These are the key numbers you need to know:

BBM for Android now available on the Amazon Appstore

Although this announcement might not mean a lot for BlackBerry users, it could come in handy when recommending others to download BBM. BlackBerry has now made BBM available through the Amazon Appstore.

Sprint today announced that the LG G Flex 2 will be arriving on the carrier for a March 13 launch, with pre-orders kicking off on February 20. As previously covered, Sprint will hold exclusivity over the Volcano Red variant. AT&T is also expected to carry the smartphone this year.

IFTTT launches new Do Button, Do Camera and Do Note apps, rebrands original app to simply 'IF'

IFTTT, always the tinkerer's dream, is making some big changes today with the launch of a new set of apps and a rebranding of its main app. The three new apps, called Do Button, Do Camera and Do Note, are meant to be specialized single-use apps — accompanied by widgets — that are simpler to set up and can tie into your favorite products and apps to perform a single action very well.

Gold-framed Oppo R5 set to launch in India on February 20 for Rs. 29,990

The Oppo R5 — one of the thinnest smartphones available today — will be available in a limited edition golden-trim in India from February 20 for Rs. 29,990 ($482). The standard variant of the device has been on sale in India for some time now, and joins the likes of Gionee's Elife S5.1 and Vivo X5 Max in the country.

Asus Zenfone 2 with 4GB RAM goes up for pre-order in China

Asus announced the next-generation Zenfone 2 — one of the first devices to boast 4GB RAM — at CES earlier this year, and now the device is up for pre-order in Chinese retailer Alibaba's marketplace AliExpress. There are two variants of the device available for choosing: a version with 2GB RAM that is priced at $299, and the 4GB model, which is on pre-order for $439.

Moto Maxx (i.e the Droid Turbo) is heading to India next

It looks like Motorola's Droid Turbo is headed to India, if a recent tweet by e-retailer Flipkart is any indication. The image in question makes a reference to the "ballistic nylon" back finish that is exclusive to the Droid Turbo. The device will be marketed as Moto Maxx in the country.

How to use 'Glance' on the LG G Flex 2

Back in 2013, LG introduced KnockOn, the ability to double-tap on the G2's screen to unlock it. The next year, the company followed up with KnockCode, a more secure version which allowed owners of the LG G Pro 2, G3 and others to secure their devices using a pattern of taps.

This year, starting with the LG G Flex 2, the Korean company's trying something a bit different. "Glance" is a feature of the G Flex 2 that gives you a small preview of what's going on on your device, without having to turn it on.

Motorola rolls out minor 5.0.2 update to Moto 360

If you have a Moto 360 strapped to your wrist, you might want to check for an update. Motorola has started rolling out a minor update that brings the wearable up to version 5.0.2, and includes updated Google Play services and bug fixes.

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